


Bronx Cheers and Jersey Barriers

by Fabrisse



Category: Wiseguy
Genre: M/M, McPike POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2011-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-27 08:32:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>McPike has watched Terranova from the beginning -- the very beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bronx Cheers and Jersey Barriers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Franzeska](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Franzeska/gifts).



McPike put down the file and looked at the picture again. The higher-ups had assigned Terranova to him two years ago, even before they sent the kid up the river. He knew. Even then, he knew the powers that be were grooming this punk for the Steelgrave syndicate. Dermott kept dropping hints, and McPike did everything he could, including keeping Terranova in stir for the whole eighteen months, to prevent it. It didn't matter that Terranova would hate him for it. It was the best thing McPike could do to keep Terranova safe -- his cover safe.

Because Terranova wouldn't be an accountant who could patiently work his way up and tease out the extra sets of books Dave was hiding from Sonny, much less the set they were both hiding from the Feds, Terranova would be a numbers runner, street-level muscle, and muscle didn't always live long among the Steelgraves. Handsome muscle didn't even get to join if Dave saw it first, because Sonny, he liked smarts more than tough and good-looking outweighed them both. Terranova was smart enough to graduate Fordham and tough enough to have boxed Golden Gloves.

They'd never caught Sonny with anything other than women in his bed, but McPike looked at the photo of Terranova -- the guy looked pretty good even in a mug shot. And that would intrigue Sonny, maybe even attract him a bit.

That was the worry. Vince's virtue was his own affair. But Sonny had intelligence and intuition and if he saw McPike's boy running numbers and moving up the organization, then all that intelligence, all that intuition, and all that intrigue would be focused on one undercover cop.

McPike threw the change from his coffee money into the jar on his desk. There'd be enough for a big wreath for Terranova.

***  
Nothing about this case had gone according to plan. Dave Steelgrave killing Dermott and Terranova turning wildcard almost from the moment he left prison would have turned McPike's hair white, if he'd had more left.

Terranova had gone right for the top and succeeded in getting prime information to the investigators almost from the beginning. The top was Sonny Steelgrave, and, well, if McPike were going to admit that he actually minored in French Lit, he'd have called it a _coup de foudre_. Steelgrave was so wrapped up in Terranova that McPike had to worry he'd show up at secret meetings.

He hadn't had this kind of aggravation since Raglin left the field.

Dave Steelgrave's death just aggravated the issue. Worst of all, with Pat the Cat and No Money Mahoney taking a direct interest in the Steelgrave operation, McPike had to keep closer than usual tabs on his operative which put Terranova -- and himself -- in more danger.

He'd gone to see the Lifeguard, who'd greeted him with the immortal, "Do I need to send a forensics team to figure out who pissed in your cornflakes?"

All his worries came spilling out. McPike had lost people before, and Vince needing to tell his mama about his status smacked of a man trying to grasp at the least little shred to hold him to his honor and his past.

"So, what do you think, Uncle?" McPike said.

"Frank. I listen to Vinnie every day. His morals are so high, I don't know if another agent could live up to them. He does. He respects you, and I think he's beginning to like you."

"Well, I think he suspects that I gave Karen Leland up."

Dan looked at him. "If you'd been held another day, you probably would have. We all have a breaking point. Yours is one of the highest I've seen, but, no, you didn't give her up and I doubt Vinnie thinks you did."

McPike nodded, another piece slotting into place.

"I will tell you what my errant nephew reminds me of, though."

McPike focused in tightly. "Go ahead, Uncle."

"He reminds me of falling in love with Molly Alexander when I was in college. She was a terrible person, but she loved life and loved me and I gave her every chance she deserved and too many chances she didn't because, dammit, Frank, I was in love."

The question was plain in Frank's face and the Lifeguard answered it. "Steelgrave. You and I look at him, and we see him ruining Jersey with drugs, gambling, and prostitution. Vinnie sees that, too, but he also sees his friend, Sonny."

"Who is asking our undercover operative to work undercover for him with Patrice."

"Yeah."

McPike said, "Did anyone get audio on Steelgrave's meeting with Joey Bags?"

"He asked formal permission to marry Teresa Baglia."

McPike took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Set up a meeting for me with the AD. And tell Vinnie I need to see him tomorrow at the latest. I'll take any meet he can make."

"Frank?"

"Patrice, Mahoney, Baglia, and Steelgrave will all sit in a room together. We're going to make certain they, and that bastard Sid Royce, all walk out in cuffs. I'll need you on Ops."

"You got it, Frank."

***  
McPike contemplated having Vinnie strip before entering the meet-up in the Sacristy of Saint Dismas. As Steelgrave was consolidating his position, he was also getting more paranoid. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that Vinnie was wearing a bug, courtesy of Steelgrave's generosity.

"What is it, Frank? One minute you're telling me not to be too conspicuous so no one will suspect me, and the next you're hauling me in for a meeting on a night when I'm supposed to be checking out Patrice for Sonny."

"You're covered. There's a problem with your brother's church. Call Steelgrave right now, and tell him you can't go to Pat the Cat's joint tonight or maybe you’ll be late depending on how quickly we wrap up. I'm certain your brother will vouch for you. Steelgrave respects family."

"Yeah, he does." He made the call and turned back to McPike. "So you still haven't told me why I'm here."

"Have a seat."

Terranova looked at this handler, then nodded and sat. McPike sat in a chair across the table.

For a few long moments, they just sat there. Finally, McPike said, "From the intelligence you've given us, all the key players in the New York and Philadelphia mobs will be attending Steelgrave's wedding to Teresa Baglia. You're in so deep, we can't be sure you can get out safely unless we grab everyone at once. This is a strategy meeting for how we get them all."

"What does that mean for Sonny?"

"We don't have any witnesses to his murder of the scumbag who killed your cousin, so the needle's off the table. With your testimony on his organization, we should be able to get him twenty to life in a Federal Prison. The same for Pat the Cat. Joey Bags and No Money Mahoney will be mostly racketeering charges, but we can get them a solid ten years inside." He watched Vinnie's reaction carefully taking in the thoughtful nod and the slump of his shoulders.

McPike continued, "I have two questions for you tonight. The second one is 'at what point in the festivities do we raid the party?'"

"What's the first one?" Vinnie eyed him warily.

"Do you love him?"

Terranova stood up. "How can you even ask me that, Frank? You've seen my jacket. You know what happened to me in prison."

"Yeah, I do. And I didn't ask where you wanted to put your dick. I asked if you loved him. If you don't, well, we'll keep you under wraps until the trial -- make sure you get counseling for the toll the job has taken on you."

Terranova was pacing, now. "I mean, you've seen the girls that Sonny gets."

McPike refrained from saying that he also knew how many girls Vinnie had shared with Steelgrave. He took a deep breath. "I didn't ask whether he loved you. If you love him, I'll do whatever I can for you both in this mess, because, Vinnie, sex is easy to get. Even a guy who looks like me can find it for free -- if I weren't happily married. But love is a rare commodity, and as your Uncle Mike reminded me, your heart doesn't get to choose where it blooms.” He frowned. “Sorry for the mixed metaphor."

Terranova looked stricken for a moment. "I thought I was prepared to be his friend, to be his Judas, but, Frank, he's -- he killed a man as a birthday present for me. And it made me sick inside, but it also gave me peace. As strange as it sounds, it was thoughtful and heartfelt. That's what Sonny's like with me, and I want to be the same way with him."

McPike nodded. "Nothing's going to stop the Judas feeling, from either of you, but I'll do the best that I can." He took out a small pad and a pen. "Now, let's plan how to get the northeast mob behind bars."

***  
Two hours later, Vinnie stopped in to see his mother, on McPike's orders, and called the Lifeguard.

After they exchanged the recognition code, Vinnie jumped right in. "Patrice has asked me to help set Sonny up. It was allusive, but it was there. A 'would I like to work for someone who appreciated me' and a 'Sonny doesn't understand the old values,' but he's asking me to help him get Sonny, and Sonny already told me to accept if he offered."

"Got it, nephew. Give me a minute to get Frank on the line."

When McPike's voice came down the phone, it was with one order. "Tell Sonny he's being set up, probably for the wedding. I'll move our tentative time table to earlier in the evening. We'll have video of the whole event, but…"

"Yeah, I know. I'm the one who told you no audio."

"Let me know if you find anything out. You did good, Vinnie. It'll be done soon."

"Yeah, Frank." He hung up, and got a cup of tea and a cannoli from his mother.

The Lifeguard asked Frank, "Is my nephew going to make it?"

"He will if I have anything to say about it."

***  
McPike and his team went in through the kitchen, taking out the guards quietly and putting them in handcuffs. He didn't know what sixth sense had made him decide to move up the timetable, but when his team entered the dining room after the dinner at Steelgrave's bachelor party, he saw Sonny standing behind Patrice and Aldo Baglia as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rockers. Vinnie's wide eyes confirmed it for him; their entry had probably prevented a murder.

He gave orders to take Steelgrave and Terranova in the first Federal wagon. Then Frank McPike had the supreme pleasure of arresting Sid Royce for the murder of policewoman Karen Malloy aka Karen Leland. "Personally, I'm hoping for the death penalty, Sidney." He made certain Royce went in a Jersey police car to a separate holding center from Terranova and Steelgrave and then gave the orders to take the rest of them into Federal custody.

McPike went out to the wagon holding Terranova and Steelgrave, and climbed into the back beside Vinnie and across from a handcuffed Sonny. Then he gave his pitch on the witness protection program and hoped that Sonny Steelgrave loved Vinnie as much as Vinnie loved him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I couldn't keep the Rialto scenes.


End file.
